Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov will pay a working visit to Moscow on February 22 to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

As the Official Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova announced at a briefing today, the parties intend discussing key aspects of Russian-Turkmen cooperation, topical issues of the regional and international agenda, as well as cooperation in the bilateral format - CIS, UN, OSCE and the Caspian Five.

"We see the upcoming visit as an important component of a package of measures to strengthen bilateral relations, which is implemented in the framework of the agreement between the two countries' strategic partnership. It was concluded on October 2, 2017," Zakharova stressed.

The Foreign Ministers of Turkmenistan and Russia regularly meet with each other both in bilateral and multilateral formats.

Last year, following talks in Moscow, the Foreign Ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Biological Safety between the Governments of Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation. In addition, the parties discussed bilateral cooperation in the political and diplomatic as well as trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian fields, considered the possibilities of expanding contacts in detail in science, medicine and education, as well as exchanged views on Caspian issues, including preparations for the VI Caspian Summit.

To recap, initially the VI Caspian Summit was to be held in Turkmenistan in 2021. However, later it became known of its reschedule to 2022.